What can we say about one of the most famous political cartoonists in Palestine - a man whose hobby was cartoon-drawing even as a young boy, despite his mother’s consternation as he drew on the walls of his house?

Mohammad Said El Nimnim (Abul Noon), 28 years old, was born in Beach Camp in Gaza. Although he studied agronomy and is specialised in the food-services industry (to fulfil the wishes of his parents), he is and always has been a cartoonist at heart - a cartoonist who has a burning desire to live free and communicate truth.

Loyal to his cause as a Palestinian, Abul Noon is committed to his role as “disturber of the peace” - the peace of the ignorant, the peace of the misinformed, the peace of those who are in the dark regarding the reality of Palestine as occupied territory and of Palestinians as an oppressed people. “I have a message to deliver to people old and young, near and far. I do not want to act in the same way as the cartoonist who blasphemed our prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him; yet his goal was to deliver a message. We as Palestinians must deliver our message to the world and confront people with the truth.”

For Abul Noon, being a cartoonist is an integral part of his identity, and nothing could ever distract him from it, not even the promise of wealth. After the Israeli “withdrawal” from Gaza, he was offered a lucrative job in the greenhouse projects in the evacuated areas. He wasn’t even able to endure a full day of work there. Making anything other than art a priority in his life is impossible. It’s somehow a betrayal of himself.

At the age of 18, Abul Noon sold his first cartoon for a hundred dollars. But he realised even then that artists were most probably doomed to beg for the bare necessities of life. For him, however, the most basic necessities of life were simply being true to one’s calling, developing and using the gifts and talents one has received in order to communicate the truth, and realising one’s dreams. These comprise the real riches of life.

Abul Noon has participated in numerous contests throughout the Arab world has won many awards for his artwork. At present he works with Ma’an News Agency.